Pleco Review – Should I Download it to Learn Chinese?
Download this app from Microsoft Store for Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Windows Phone 8. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews, and compare ratings for Chinese Dictionary. We make the world's best Chinese dictionaries And much more - we are Pleco Software, purveyors of ridiculously awesome Chinese language reference and learning apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Welcome to the complete Pleco Review for 2020.
SPOILER ALERT – this is probably the most important app for any foreigner wanting to learn Chinese or hoping to come to China.
In this review we’ll explain why.
Pleco is so much more than just an app. It’s a lifesaver, and any foreigner whose spent even the shortest stint in China will vouch for that.
Many awkward situations can be bypassed using Pleco. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to call this the most important app in any Chinese learners portfolio.
Pleco Review – Why?
Pleco Review – Costs
Pleco Review – Features
Pleco Review – Android or Apple?
Pleco Review –Conclusion
Pleco Review –FAQ’s
Pleco Review – Why?
Pleco is a Chinese dictionary in your pocket put simply.
It will come in more handy than you’d ever expect.
Think of the following situations:
- At a restaurant trying to read a Chinese menu
- In a taxi talking to a taxi driver
- Chatting in the street with locals
- Trying to find out how to say the name of a popular Chinese tourist attraction in Chinese
- Trying to describe your day to a Chinese friend
The possibilities are genuinely endless. Pleco can help solve all the above problems in a heartbeat.
The great thing as well – Pleco is absolutely free if you want it to be.
There are add-ons we’ll discuss below, but for all the potential scenarios above, you needn’t purchase them.
Even if you plan on coming to China for a 1-3 week holiday, it’s worth taking 20 seconds to download it.
HSK Online Review – Our Guide to the HSK App
Today we’re going to do a HSK Online review. It’s an app dedicated to helping you learn everything related to the HSK Exam and passing it.
Pleco Review – Costs
It’s absolutely free!
The best thing about Pleco is the price. Sure you can upgrade with some add-ons but unlike other apps they don’t tie your hands with a limited number of words for example.
The usage, the content, it’s unlimited and it’s free which is fantastic.
However, you can up your Pleco game with a number of add-ons which include some of the following here:
All add-ons are a one off purchase and honestly, it really depends on your goals and motives. I’ve been a Chinese language learner for 3 years and I’ve only purchased one, the Stroke Order diagrams which my teacher recommended I download. It’s 4.99GBP and gives you a great insight into how more complex Chinese characters are built.
A friend of mine, a very advanced Mandarin speaker, and learner of over 10 years, has purchased them all and I must admit it looks great, but isn’t necessary for most learners.
One add-on that really caught my eye was the OCR (Optical Character Recognizer) which allows you to use your Pleco as a camera, and highlight characters in Chinese. It will then translate them.
Note that Google translate also offers this service, but Pleco’s is far more accurate. Google’s I find barely works when you are trying to highlight sentences or Chinese menus.
At 9.99GBP, this is a very worthwhile purchase for Chinese learners at many levels in my opinion.
Learn Chinese on YouTube – The Simple Guide
How to Learn Chinese on YouTube So you want to learn Chinese on YouTube? YouTube can be an incredibly powerful tool for learning Chinese online. However, sometimes it can be a little tricky to navigate. There are many hidden gems…
One other very popular add-on for Chinese language learners is the Flashcard System.
Again, it’s only 9.99GBP and a one-off purchase, making it super cheap.
These are instructions on how to run applications that 'can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer' in Mac OS X Mountain Lion.ALLOW SINGLE APP:If you would like to allow just one specific application to run:Step OneHold down the Control key and click the application icon. Mac open apps from unidentified developer.
The idea is pretty simple and rather obvious in that you can use flashcards to learn Chinese characters. It’s a smart way to build your character knowledge no matter what stage of learning you are at.
Have you used Pleco before? Comment below with your rating!
Pleco Review – Features
The main feature of Pleco is to find the Chinese translation from an English word.
Currently Pleco does not have functionality from other languages like Spanish or French to our knowledge.
When finding the word, you can see the Pinyin and Hanzi (Chinese characters) plus, in most cases, how that word is applied in sentences, and also other words that use these characters.
The Only Shortcoming
One of the rare shortcomings I have found with Pleco at times is that, when searching a word in English, there are so many options that appear, sometimes the most used spoken version is further down the list meaning this can cause some confusion.
Let’s take two examples here:
We’ve taken two words, “birthday” and the adjective “clever”.
Now, if I am new to Chinese I probably assume the first option is the best/most used. After all I don’t know any different.
In the case of Birthday – the first option is indeed the correct option. 生日. The good thing is if you cannot pronounce it, you can use the audio feature when you click the word to play it to a local speaker if need be.
In the case of Clever – the first option would not be the word we are looking for, but the 2nd choice. 聪明. This can lead to confusion and usage of the wrong word at times.
As you’ll see, Pleco does confirm if the word is a noun, adjective, verb etc… so this helps a lot.
This is probably the only place Pleco falls down, in what is an otherwise faultless app experience.
Using the Dictionary
When finding the word you want, you can click on it and you’ll be faced with these options:
- Dictionary (shows the meanings of the word)
- Characters (shows how the character is built, including radicals)
- Words (other words using this character)
- Sentences (sentences including that word)
Note if you purchase add-ons they’ll sometimes be more options here.
These are all really useful features. Sometimes the sentences can be rather odd admittedly, but otherwise it’s an invaluable way to piece together the giant jigsaw puzzle that is learning Mandarin.
In this example we can see the word for “protect” 保.
When you see other related words you see a lot of them follow a similar sort of pattern:
- 保持 – keep/maintain
- 保护 – protect/safeguard
- 保存 – preserve/keep
Notice how all these words fall under a similar meaning.
Therefore, we can guess when we see the character 保 in future, it has something to do with protection.
This, in a nutshell, is how Chinese works and Pleco is a great way of discovering all the different avenues with words in Mandarin.
Personalize your Pleco
In the SETTINGS tab there are a plethora of ways you can personalize your Pleco.
You can do things such as:
- Voice playback volume
- Adding Cantonese
- Changing font sizes
- Enable night (dark) mode
- Change text colours
It’s worth spending some time in there if you plan to use the app a lot. https://rabbitclever267.weebly.com/blog/how-to-run-32-bit-apps-on-mac. Make it personal and easy for you to use.
Pleco Review – Android or Apple?
Pleco Microsoft
Thankfully Pleco is available for download on both iOs and Android systems meaning everyone can benefit from the app.
Pleco App For Mac Shortcut
Pleco Review – Conclusion
As apps come, they don’t get more important than Pleco.
We recommend this to any genuine Chinese language learner, or even the tourist who just plans on spending 10 days in China, due to the fact it’s free for all.
Want to discover more apps for learning Chinese? Check out our review on the HSK Online app.
Pleco Review – FAQ’s
What is Pleco?Pleco is a Chinese dictionary in your pocket put simply. It’s an app for your smartphone and is hugely popular with students learning Mandarin.
Is Pleco free?![Pleco App For Mac Pleco App For Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/2/133279977/954163789.png)
Pleco is absolutely free if you want it to be. There are add-ons which we’ll discuss in this blog, but otherwise there are no costs involved.
Is Pleco available on Android for download?Yes it is.
Is Pleco useful in real life situations in China?Absolutely! Here are just 5 of many potential scenarios in which you can use Pleco.
1 – At a restaurant trying to read a Chinese menu
2 – In a taxi talking to a taxi driver
3 – Chatting in the street with locals
4 – Trying to find out how to say the name of a popular Chinese tourist attraction in Chinese
5 – Trying to describe your day to a Chinese friend
1 – At a restaurant trying to read a Chinese menu
2 – In a taxi talking to a taxi driver
3 – Chatting in the street with locals
4 – Trying to find out how to say the name of a popular Chinese tourist attraction in Chinese
5 – Trying to describe your day to a Chinese friend
Want more from LTL?
If you wish to hear more from LTL Mandarin School why not join our mailing list.
We give plenty of handy information on learning Chinese, useful apps to learn the language and everything going on at our LTL schools! Sign up below and become part of our ever growing community!
It’s been a while since my last blog post on this site, but I am finally back! Let’s get right into it then, shall we?!
I’m currently in Shanghai and have, early on, come to the realization that the majority of people here speak Chinese. I mean… what did I expect? Although, prior to arriving in Shanghai, I did think that there would be more English speakers. Anyways, what has really helped me in communicating and conversing with the locals has been Pleco! It’s an application for both iOS and Android and is regarded as one of the world’s best English-Chinese dictionaries. The one feature I really like about Pleco is the fact that I am able to use it even without a wifi or data connection. Everything is stored right in the app! This makes Pleco so handy as I don’t necessarily need to waste my 4G data on it – however cheap it might be!
Click here if you want to download the the free basic version of Pleco for iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad. You’re always able to add on more advanced features or dictionaries from inside of the app; however, the basic version of Pleco is a great starting point that will point you in the right direction. Wouldn’t it be great if you could point your camera at a few chinese characters and have an app, like Pleco, translate those characters into something that you might actually understand?! Pleco actually does this – it’s called OCR. The way it works is that you point your iPhone’s camera at some Chinese characters to instantly look up their meanings. You don’t even have to take a picture, the OCR scanner is built right into the application itself and once the camera recognizes the Chinese word, it will automatically start translating. I do believe this feature is an in-app purchase – and rightly so – but it may be worth it for somebody who’s staying in China for a longer period of time and would like to have a basic understanding of common words in their everyday life.
Pleco App For Pc
If you want to learn more about Pleco, click here to visit their website which will tell you everything you need to know about how to use the app and what is has to offer. Furthermore, I belive it also discusses the various prices of in-app purchases.